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Amazon’s recently concluded fall Prime Day had shoppers lining up for deals they couldn’t resist.
Amazon hosted its second Prime Day—dubbed “Prime Big Deal Days”—on Oct. 8–9, while rivals Walmart and Target ran Prime Day-like deals on their sites with Walmart Holiday Deals and Target Circle Week, respectively.
According to insights from data firm Numerator’s Prime Day tracker, the top five categories on Amazon bought between Oct. 8 and 9 were household essentials (22%), and apparel and shoes (22%) both taking the top spot, followed by home goods (21%), beauty and cosmetics (20%), and health and wellness (19%). Numerator said it surveyed more than 5,000 verified Prime Day customers who shopped during the sale.
Amazon said, globally, Prime members saved more than $1 billion across millions of deals, including on seasonal merchandise items and gifts. Amazon ran deals on everything from electronics, home, toys, beauty, and apparel, including discounts on products from Dyson, Mattel, Levi’s, and Apple.
Prime Big Deal Days shoppers surveyed by Numerator also reported shopping or expecting to shop at other retailers’ fall sales events, its tracker data found. Going by the numbers, 33% said they shopped or will shop at Walmart Holiday Deals that runs until Oct. 13, and 30% of shoppers said they shopped or will shop at Target Circle Week that ends Oct. 12.
Meanwhile, 55% of October Prime Day shoppers compared Amazon’s prices to rivals before making their purchases. Specifically, 67% shoppers compared prices at Walmart, 44% compared prices at Target, and 26% compared prices at warehouse retailers like Sam’s Club or Costco.
Third-party e-commerce insights firm Profitero, which tracks sales data on Amazon, found that brands selling health and personal care products, and personal care electronics each saw a 5-point increase in out-of-stock rates on Day 1 compared to the October 10 Prime Day event last year.
Mike Black, chief growth officer at Profitero, told Retail Brew, “Volatility in availability poses an ongoing risk for brands and also an opportunity for competitors to gain an advantage.”
This summer, Amazon’s Prime Day event drove sales worth $14.2 billion on July 16 and 17.